Greetings! Owning and renting property in San Francisco can be a scary experience, but not as frightening as these foreboding Fog City abodes. Enjoy these chilling tales in honor of Halloween! Best, Natalie Atherton Mansion, 1990 California Street Believed to be haunted by George Atherton, the feeble son of Faxon D. Atherton and Dominga de… Read More
San Francisco Garbage Rates Rise
September 24, 2013 by
Garbage rates for apartment buildings, single-family homes and commercial buildings will rise over the next few years, after the progressive rate hike was approved by the San Francisco Department of Public Works. The new rate hike does not include a passthrough provision. One of the biggest changes to the new rate structure set by the… Read More
Apartment Code Violations About to Go Public
August 22, 2013 by
The San Francisco Department of Public Health recently unveiled Code for America, a health and safety history of every house and apartment in San Francisco. This uniform, machine-readable data format-authored by Rajiv Bhatia and Cyndy Comerford from the San Francisco Department of Public Health-will show the entire known history of building, everything from code violations… Read More
How To Deal With A Party Animal Tenant
July 30, 2013 by
No matter how well you screen tenants, it is inevitable that you eventually encounter a tenant who lives a party life much to the chagrin of his neighbors. The hard part about managing party animals who are disturbing other tenants is that unless you living on the property yourself, it becomes a game of “he-said-she-said.”… Read More
What You Should Know About Subletting
June 18, 2013 by
Inevitably, all landlords are going to one day face the situation of accepting a subtenant onto their property. Although all Lingsch Realty leases prohibit subletting apartments, under regulation 6.15A(d) of the San Francisco Rent Board code, a landlord may not refuse a tenant the right to replace roommates on a one-for-one basis every 12 months…. Read More
San Francisco Mandates Seismic Retrofits for Soft Story Buildings
February 22, 2013 by
In 2010, San Francisco instituted a program that would require rental housing owners to seismically retrofit certain soft story buildings. Because the program is currently voluntary, the improvements are not being made. Therefore, legislation has been introduced to mandate retrofits. The proposed regulations would affect only wood-frame soft-story buildings built before 1978 that are at… Read More
Scrupulous Tenant Background Checks Save Time and Money and Headaches
September 10, 2012 by
I’ll be the first to admit that leasing property isn’t rocket science, but it is people science. I consider myself part private investigator, part sociologist, and part psychologist when I am considering a tenant for one of my clients. I recently read a San Francisco Chronicle article about a landlord’s nightmare eviction. You may read… Read More
Reduce Kitchen Stovetop Fire Risk
August 14, 2012 by
While I have not experienced an extreme emergency in the 10+ years I have been managing properties (knock on wood), the possibility and worry is constantly on my mind. Over the last couple weeks as I have began preparing an emergency preparedness plan for our office and each building we manage, as well as information… Read More
THE RISKS OF RENTING ILLEGAL APARTMENT UNITS
May 23, 2012 by
While I receive questions from my clients and potential clients about numerous issues each day, very frequently it seems like everyone has the same question. Sometimes this is provoked by a news article or pending legislation; other times it seems like pure coincidence. The burning question the last couple weeks has been “what are the… Read More
Are You Getting The Most Income From Your Properties? An Overview of Rent Board Passthroughs
March 2, 2012 by
Though the San Francisco Rent Ordinance tends to favor tenants by suppressing rents, there are ways to increase a tenant’s rent legally through Rent Board petitions. Capital Improvement Passthrough Operating And Maintenance Expense Increase Special Circumstances Increase Based on Rents for Comparable Units Rent Increase Based on the Past Rent History of a Proposition I… Read More